An obvious general tendency in many Germanic languages is gradual deflection everywhere in the grammatical system. For instance, we can observe a reduction in the number of cases; in this context it has often been predicted that the complete loss of the genitive is imminent. Indeed, a drastic decrease in the number of syntactic functions of the genitive has occurred. At the same time, in nearly all Germanic languages the genitive seems to be relatively stable morphologically. In fact, in some languages the genitive is the only case still overtly marked.

In this workshop we intend to focus on the dynamics of one specific cell in morphological paradigms: how is it filled (paradigmatic relations, allomorphy)? And what functions does it fulfill?

We aim to explore crosslinguistic similarities and dissimilarities regarding the synchrony and diachrony of genitives and the reasons behind them. Comparing the developments of this particular cell allows us to better understand the factors that determine linguistic variation.